Leading European Union figures expressed outrage on Tuesday following Serbia’s decision to grant a hero’s send-off to Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general who passed away while serving a life sentence for war crimes, raising fresh questions regarding Serbia’s suitability to join the bloc.
Mladic was laid to rest in Belgrade on Monday accompanied by military honours. Patriarch Porfirije, the leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, officiated over the funeral service, with Serbian army personnel carrying Mladic’s flag-draped coffin through the cemetery.
Several Serbian government ministers attended the proceedings for the man dubbed the "Butcher of Bosnia", who was convicted of orchestrating the continent’s first genocide since the Second World War. Mladic remains widely regarded as a hero among many Serbs.
"The images from Ratko Mladic’s funeral yesterday in Belgrade were shocking," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said in social media posts.
"The elements of official support and the presence of some senior Serbian officials at the funeral are deeply regrettable," von der Leyen and Costa said. "They demonstrate a failure to confront a dark chapter in Europe’s recent history and contradict the values underpinning Serbia’s path towards the European Union."
While Populist President Aleksandar Vucic chose not to attend the service, his son Danilo was present. Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik and Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, the Russian ambassador in Serbia, were also among those in attendance.
Vucic, formerly an extreme nationalist who backed Serbia’s expansionist agenda during the conflict that shattered Yugoslavia in the 1990s, characterised the service as an "emotional outpouring”.
Serbia’s Justice Minister Nenad Vujic joined Mladic's family at the burial. He stated that authorities assisted in maintaining order so the event proceeded in a "dignified" manner, whilst noting that the family remained in charge.
Vucic finds himself walking a political tightrope as he attempts to rally core supporters — many of whom revere Mladic — ahead of potential snap parliamentary elections in the coming months, without alienating the EU that Belgrade purports to join.
Last week, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos cautioned that the funeral would serve as "a test" for Belgrade. She subsequently cancelled an intended visit to Serbia, maintaining that "the glorification" surrounding Mladic’s death was fundamentally incompatible with European values.
The EU typically releases its annual enlargement assessment in late October or early November, evaluating the progress made by candidate nations including Serbia and detailing areas of concern.
Von der Leyen is anticipated to tour the Western Balkans region shortly before the report’s publication. Although she traditionally visits each candidate country, no specific dates or public itinerary have yet been confirmed.
When questioned about potential consequences for Belgrade’s accession process, a spokesperson for von der Leyen stated only: "we are looking into it."
The proceedings are unlikely to aid Serbia’s membership prospects, which had already been damaged by democratic backsliding. In April, Kos warned Belgrade that it risked losing access to roughly 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in EU funding amid growing alarm over municipal election irregularities.
Working in Serbia’s favour, Vucic’s nationalist-populist SNS party retains close ties to the EU’s largest political alliance, the European People’s Party, which unites centre-right parties from across Europe. The EPP has previously faced criticism for protecting Vucic.
"It is high time for the EPP to stop acting as a safe haven for the SNS party, which openly celebrates convicted war criminals and rolls out the red carpet for the ‘Butcher of Bosnia’," Slovenian Green member of the European Parliament Vladimir Prebilic said last week.
Von der Leyen is a prominent member of the EPP, alongside half of her team of policy commissioners and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. Von der Leyen has notably avoided criticizing Vucic in public settings.
For years, the EPP offered firm backing to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s hardline nationalist Fidesz party to keep him within Europe’s mainstream fold. However, the EPP ultimately suspended Fidesz in 2019 following concerns over democracy and the rule of law in Hungary, leading Fidesz to withdraw from the group in 2021.
